In the second half, Ferran Torres scored a goal to give Barcelona a 1-1 draw with Eintracht Frankfurt in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final on Thursday.
After halftime, Frankfurt took the lead thanks to an Ansgar Knauff shot that hit the top corner from a long distance. Tuta was sent off for a second booking late, so Frankfurt had to settle for a point.
When referee Srdjan Jovanovic changed his mind and didn’t give Barcelona a penalty when captain Sergio Busquets brought down Rafael Borre, the Catalans had a good thing to be thankful for.
However, Barcelona rallied in the 66th minute when Torres tapped in following a combination with Frenkie de Jong.
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“Going behind but drawing can be a precious outcome for the second leg,” Torres added.
“Frankfurt was tough and made things difficult for us. In general, we were patient, and the reward was that we got a good goal.
Torres’ goal makes them the favorite for the second leg at Camp Nou next Thursday, when they play again.
“We did a great job and didn’t let them do much for 90 minutes,” said Frankfurt goalkeeper Knauff.
We almost feel bad that we didn’t win, but anything can happen in the second leg.
A sell-out home crowd of 48,000 made for a very exciting atmosphere.
It made Frankfurt come up with 18 shots on goal, compared to seven for Barcelona, so they did better.
As Borre ran to get a loose ball, Busquets brought him down. Then the referee pointed to the spot. There was a lot of cheering from the Frankfurt crowd when he did this.
Before the break, the VAR changed the penalty decision. The home team went ahead soon after the break.
Marc-Andre Ter Stegen could only get his hands on a half-volley from Knauff that dipped just out of his reach.
In the second half, Barcelona came from behind to tie the game. Ousmane Dembele and De Jong worked together before Torres was set up to score.
Frankfurt was down to 10 men for the last 12 minutes when Tuta was sent off for a bad tackle on Pedri.
He said: “It was hard to get a handle on the game because they defended well and didn’t give us much room.”
When they came back at us, “We were better in the second half.”
‘Fans are behind us.’
“We will have our fans behind us when we come back, and we hope that will help us get into the semi-finals.”
During the West Ham and Lyon match, Jarrod Bowen scored as the Hammers came from behind to earn a 1-1 draw. Aaron Cresswell was sent off just before half-time for a foul on Moussa Dembele, and Bowen scored.
Bowen scored a goal for West Ham in the 52nd minute when Jerome Boateng made a mistake. It was the first time in 41 years that West Ham played in a European quarter-final.
Tanguy Ndombele, who is on loan from Tottenham, scored for Lyon 14 minutes later.
It was “cheap,” Bowen told BT Sport.
As Braga beat Rangers 1-0, Abel Ruiz scored a great goal in the 40th minute.
In the first half, Ricardo Horta hit the post for Braga. In the 25th minute, the same player had a goal chalked off by VAR for a foul on Ryan Jack.
There was only one goal in the first half, said Ruiz.
In defense, the Rangers do an excellent job. I don’t think having a 1-0 lead over Scotland is very good, but we’re going there to win.
When Davide Zappacosta put in an own goal just before the hour mark, it let RB Leipzig draw 1-1 with Atalanta in front of their fans at home.
Luis Muriel scored the game’s first goal for the Italian team in the 17th minute with a powerful shot that beat goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi.
Both teams had chances to score in the first half, but Andre Silva missed a penalty after Christopher Nkunku was brought down in the box.
When Zappacosta was under a lot of pressure from Willi Orban, he managed to push the ball past his goalkeeper. Moments later, the home team finally scored.